Medium-Duty Sales Increase in October
U.S. retail sales of medium-duty trucks increased 11.1% to 20,631 in October, with double-digit gains coming in most weight classes, WardsAuto.com reported.
Sales were 18,566 a year earlier, according to Ward’s.
“The light-duty side of commercial has lagged a little bit this year, so it doesn’t surprise me to see it begin to make a bit of a year-end push given the strength of the economy and small business optimism,” Act Research Co. Vice President Steve Tam said.
Earlier in the year, lease and rental companies drove the demand rather than individual buyers, he said. “You are probably seeing some individual buyers in this space right now.”
Year-to-date, sales rose 7.2% to 196,997 compared with 183,757 in the previous 10-month period.
Class 7 posted the lowest gain, rising 3.9% to 5,785 — a jump of 218 trucks compared with a year earlier.
Sales at International Truck, a unit of Navistar Inc., primarily lifted Class 7 higher, as the truck maker increased sales by 174 units. Navistar’s fiscal year ends Oct. 31, and year-end sales typically are strong.
The five other truck makers active in Class 7 remained, basically, at their year-ago levels.
Class 6 sales climbed 20.6% to 5,988 compared with 4,967 a year earlier.
“We also had a strong year-over-year Class 6 comp in September, too, so I would have to say 2017 was just a weak, spot-easy comp,” Tam said.
Freightliner, a unit of Daimler Trucks North America, led with 1,761 sales.
It was followed by Ford Motor Co. with 1,732 and International with 1,469.
Among the smaller players, General Motors’ Chevrolet low-cab-forward brand sold eight Class 6 trucks compared with only seven in all of 2017. It has posted 51 through October 2018.
Hino Trucks, a Toyota Group company, had 623 sales in October compared with 488 in the 2017 period.
Isuzu Commercial Truck of America Inc. sold 167 Class 6 trucks compared with 57 a year earlier.
Kenworth Truck Co. inched up to 228 compared with 225 a year earlier.
Peterbilt Motors Co. sold seven, up from three in the 2017 period.
Kenworth and Peterbilt are units of Paccar Inc.
Sales in Classes 4-5 improved 10.3% to 8,858 compared with a year earlier.
Once again, Isuzu and Ford dominated in Class 4 and Class 5, respectively. Meanwhile, International is preparing to sell Classes 4-5 trucks in 2019 and GM is expanding its lineup in that category.
